BY MIRANDA ILCHEF
We would like to welcome Miranda in her first story as a CutCommon contributor.
History is filled with artists who have struggled to build and sustain a career that pays the bills.
For young musicians today, not much has changed: creating and performing music while maintaining a sense of financial security can be difficult. Low and irregular income and tough working conditions are just some of the reasons arts workers in Australia suffer from higher rates of anxiety and depression compared with those outside the industry. And in light of this, entrepreneurial skills are in some ways as necessary as musical expertise in order to overcome these hurdles.
We speak about self-made artistry with Benjamin Sosland of The Juilliard School, who – as the founding administrative director of Juilliard Historical Performance and assistant dean of the Kovner Fellowship – oversees many students embarking on the journey from study to career. This month, he visits Australia to share his industry advice as part of the Getting to Carnegie Hall talk series at the Melbourne Recital Centre.
Initially trained as a tenor, Benjamin has performed with a large number of orchestras and as a guest at prominent festivals such as Aspen Music Festival. Having worked across performance, arts administration, and education, he has also hosted preconcert lectures at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.
Benjamin serves as evidence that, with perseverance and recognition of the sacrifices required, a fulfilling and stable career in music is possible.
Benjamin, you’ll present an important panel discussion for those in the arts industry this July. So tell us, what does self-made artistry mean to you?
Honestly, I’m not the biggest fan of the term ‘self-made’, since I think careers in the arts are almost always collaborative. Behind every successful artist, there is a network of people who have offered support and guidance along the way. One of the joys of being a musician is that you are so often working with other people. You can’t play that Brahms sonata without a chamber music partner, just as you can’t build a fulfilling and enriching career without a community around you.
So how do you define a ‘successful’ career in the arts?
Doing what you want to do with people you want to be surrounded by for an audience that appreciates your contributions and creativity.
Oh, and it’s of course also nice when you can actually make enough money to have financial security!
To what or whom do you attribute your professional successes? And is there anything you wished you’d changed or done differently?
I’ve been fortunate to have any number of great mentors guide me over the years, and I still do. It often takes someone else to point out, ‘Hey you’re really good at this’; or, ‘Have you ever thought of exploring that?’.
I probably could have been more honest with myself about my aptitude and disposition to become a performing artist earlier on in my career. But I don’t regret that part of my education for one moment, since I use the skills I learnt as a music student pretty much every day.
What are some of the less-obvious employment alternatives to those coveted positions in orchestras or opera companies?
There are so many! Teacher, impresario, blogger, program note writer, orchestra manager, outreach coordinator, fundraiser, composer, instrument maker, administrator, manager, orchestra librarian.
And, of course, many musicians make their living doing something unrelated to music, but that they may find compliments their artistic identity – or at least pays the bills. I’m thinking, for example, of a current Juilliard undergraduate bassoonist who makes significant money walking dogs, which is an essential service in a city like New York. He happens to love dogs to death, and the chance to spend time with them — while getting paid for it! — is a serious perk.
It appears increasingly that musicians build ‘portfolio careers’ comprising a range of professional activities rather than one salaried job. How can young musicians create a sense of stability in their careers in this climate?
This might sound overly simple, but I’m always surprised at how many young musicians have never made a personal budget. Knowing how much money you need to live month to month on things like rent, transportation, and food is essential knowledge. Then, you can go about figuring out how and whether the various components of your portfolio career are enough to sustain you.
I think it’s also important to have a life outside music. For most of us, it’s a long and bumpy road, and cultivating an aspect of our identity that isn’t as capricious as being a musician can create a sense of stability.
What sort of skills are essential in forging a sustainable and long music career?
More than anything, I really think it comes down to perseverance. It’s a sacrifice to be an artist. Chances are, you will never get rich being an artist. Being an artist means you don’t leave your job behind when you go home for the day. There are so many easier ways to make a living! But if you cannot imagine doing anything else; if you can cope with dedicating yourself to a career that doesn’t guarantee income, let alone employment; if you have something to say that you cannot say any other way than through your art; then continue on, full-speed ahead!
How have you seen that demands placed on musicians are changing?
There is no doubt that musicians are now called upon to develop more skills than just playing or singing excellently. Without big recording labels to promote fresh talent, and with a general decline in interest in the arts, musicians have to be good at more than playing their instrument. Financial literacy, excellent communication skills, savvy with social media, creativity in programming, cross-disciplinary work, the willingness to take risks — these offstage skills are becoming ever more important.
How do you feel we can brace ourselves for a future in the global music industry?
It’s pretty clear that we are in a sustained period of market disruption, and no one in the classical music industry can necessarily predict where things are going. But we do know that more people are listening to more music in more ways than ever before. We just haven’t quite figured out a way to monetise it all and to ensure that we stay relevant to audiences.
One of my former mentors is fond of saying that people have a primordial urge to be sung to. I agree. We need music, and I don’t think our need for it is going away anytime soon. That presents an endless opportunity for creative artists to reinvent and redefine the field.
Benjamin Sosland is in Australia as part of the Getting to Carnegie Hall series presented by Melbourne Recital Centre with Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and as part of MEL&NYC, supported by the Victorian Government. He’ll speak in How to be a self-made artist and Melbourne and Manhattan this 16 July.
Shout the writer a coffee?
[purchase_link id=”14221″ style=”button” color=”orange” text=”Pay what you like”]
No amount is too much or little. CutCommon writers volunteer their time to bring you these stories. Thanks for supporting Miranda in her first piece with CutCommon.
Pay what you like through PayPal. 80 per cent of your contribution will go to the writer who composed this piece, and 20 per cent to our volunteer editor for getting this show on the road. (You don’t *actually* have to take them out for a coffee.) We protect your personal information.
Images supplied.
